The present application is related in subject matter to and cross-referenced with both U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/(Attorney's Docket No. 94871) (entitled Multifunctional Printing System with Queue Management and filed by Gusmano et al.) and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/(Attorney's Docket No. 94899) (entitled Multifunctional Printing System and filed by Salgado et al.) both of which applications were filed on the same day as the present Application. The disclosures of the above-mentioned applications are incorporated herein by reference.
This invention relates generally to a multifunctional printing system with one or more queues and, more particularly, to a contention management scheme which contemplates both the prioritization of one or more jobs, on the basis of the source at which the one or more jobs were developed, for the sake of managing insertion of the prioritized one or more jobs into the one or more queues, and that jobs will be processed in accordance with a preprogrammed set of rules.
Electronic printing systems typically include an input section, sometimes referred to as an input image terminal ("IIT"), a controller, and an output section or print engine, sometimes referred to as an image output terminal ("IOT"). In one type of electronic printing system, manufactured by Xerox.RTM. Corporation, known as the DocuTech.RTM. electronic printing system, a job can be inputted to the printing system from, among other sources, a network or a scanner. An example of a printing system with both network and scanner inputs is found in the following patent:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,170,340 Patentees: Prokop et al. Issued: Dec. 8, 1992 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,047,955 Patentees: Shope et al. Issued: Sep. 10, 1991 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,957,071 Patentee: Jones Issued: Jul. 27, 1971 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,821,107 Patentees: Naito et al. Issued: Apr. 11, 1989 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,021,892 Patentees: Kita et al. Issued: Jun. 4, 1991 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,175,633 Patentees: Saito et al. Issued: Dec. 29, 1992 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,223,948 Patentees: Sakurai et al. Issued: Jun. 29, 1993 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,276,799 Patentee: Rivshin Issued: Jan. 4, 1994 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,307,458 Patentees: Freiburg et al. Issued: Apr. 26, 1994 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,436,730 Patentee: Hube Issued: Jul. 25, 1995 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,206,735 Patentees: Gauronski et al. Issued: Apr. 27, 1993 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 5,535,009 Patentee: Hansen Issued: Jul. 9, 1996 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,947,345 Patentees: Paradise et al. Issued: Aug. 7, 1990 PA1 Japanese Application 58-152821 Published: Aug. 22, 1983
When a scanner is employed to generate the job, image bearing documents are scanned so that the images therein are converted to image data for use in making prints. When a network is used to generate the job, a stream of data, including various job related instructions and image data, expressed in terms of a page description language is captured, decomposed and stored for printing. As is known, a network job can have its origin in a remote client, such as a workstation, or a print server with a storage device. Jobs provided at the IIT may be stored in a memory section, sometimes referred to as "electronic precollation memory". An example of electronic precollation memory may be found in the following patent:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,047,955 discloses a system in which input image data of a job is rasterized and compressed. The compressed, rasterized image data is then stored, in collated form, in a job image buffer. Once the job has been stored in the job image buffer, a selected number of job copies can be decompressed and printed without further job rasterization.
In one area related to electronic printing, namely digital copying, a demand for "multifunctionality" continues to grow. As illustrated by the following patent, a multifunctional digital copier can assume the form of an arrangement in which a single electrostatic processing printer is coupled with a plurality of different image input devices, with such devices being adapted to produce image related information for use by the printer.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,957,071 discloses that the image related information, in one example, could have its origin in video facsimile signals, microfilm, data processing information, light scanning platens for full size documents, aperture cards and microfiche.
The following patents also relate to the area of multifunctional digital copying:
Multifunctional copying devices are typically adapted to store a plurality of jobs for eventual printing. In one example, jobs are ordered for printing in an arrangement referred to as a "print queue". Xerox Network Systems have employed the concept of the print queue for at least a decade to manage jobs at network printers. Further teaching regarding network printing is provided in the following patent:
The concept of a print queue is integral to the operation of various digital reproduction systems. Through appropriate queue management, a job currently in the process of being printed can be interrupted with an interrupt job in a manner disclosed by the following:
Referring particularly to the '735 patent, a special job is obtained from a mass memory, shown by way of a "job file", and inserted into the queue at a "logical point" with respect to the job currently being processed. When printing reaches the logical point at which the special job was inserted, the job currently being processed is interrupted so that the special job is processed. Upon completion of the processing of the special job, processing of the interrupted job is resumed.
The queue disclosed in the '735 patent is managed, in the normal case, on a first-come-first-serve ("FIFO") basis except when special or interrupt jobs are inserted into the queue. In the illustrated embodiment of the '735 patent, the interrupt job is inserted into the queue as described above except when an interrupt job is currently in the process of printing. When an interrupt job is currently printing, a second interrupt job is placed behind the interrupt job in process. Essentially, priority is given to the interrupt job currently in process. The concerns associated with interrupting a first interrupt job with a second interrupt job are also addressed in the following patent:
The queue management arrangement of the '735 patent is not optimally suited for use in a multifunctional context because it does not differentiate among job types for the purpose of managing the queue. Consequently, a print job cannot, in many common instances, be given priority over a copy job, or vice versa. Systems particularly well suited for use with a multifunctional printing systems are disclosed by the following references:
Referring particularly to the '345 patent, a first queue is used to store copy and print jobs, while a second queue, communicating with the first queue, is used to store facsimile ("fax") jobs in parallel with the first queue. After a preselected number of one or more fax jobs is stored in the second queue, the stored job(s) is placed in front of the jobs of the first queue so that the one or more fax jobs can be printed ahead of the currently queued copy/print jobs.
While the queue management scheme of the '345 patent accommodates for job differentiation, it only does so in a limited manner. For instance, the fax queue can be given preferential treatment relative to the copy/print queue, so that one or more fax jobs can be printed ahead of a copy or print jobs. No mechanism for treating a given copy or print job preferentially, however, is suggested. Even though U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,150 to Beaudet et al. (Issued Apr. 23, 1996) accommodates for preferential treatment of copy jobs relative to print jobs, it does not do so in a queue context as discussed in the references above. Additionally, in the approach of the '345 patent, a copy or print job can get "stuck" in the copy/print job queue when multiple fax jobs are given preferential processing treatment relative to the copy/print jobs.
Essentially, the '345 patent, while well intended for its limited purpose, lacks the sort of flexible queue management that is required by multifunctional printing systems whose capabilities and uses are increasing at an ever-increasing rate. It would be desirable to provide a multifunctional printing system that provides a wide range of queue management so that the corresponding system can accommodate for both the specific needs of many different users and the many different types of uses demanded by those users. At the same time, it would desirable to provide a queue management system for a multifunctional printing system facilitating the appropriate thruput of all types of jobs which might be encountered by the multifunctional printing system.
The disclosure of each reference mentioned or discussed in the above Background is incorporated herein by reference.